PORTLAND, Ore. — The celebration was on, high-fiving as shot after shot was falling and the Knicks could think about the long flight home and how they had survived the imposing five-game West Coast trip, the trade deadline and came out with a glimmer of hope for the season.
But a 23-point lead over a Portland Trail Blazers team shedding talent and eyeing the NBA Draft Lottery and free agency disappeared in a haze of missed shots, sore ankles and awful defense — outscored by the Blazers 35-11 in the fourth quarter — and they fell, 112-103, at Moda Center.